CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – The head of WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s travel COVID vaccine mandates should be “dropped” right away.
WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech tweeted yesterday, “Vaccine mandate for air travellers and employees needs to be dropped.”
“As vaccines are not preventing the spreading of the virus since #omicron, there is no more logic to maintain it. This will also relax some of the operational challenges at the airports.”
Vaccine mandate for air travellers and employees needs to be dropped. As vaccines are not preventing the spreading of the virus since #omicron, there is no more logic to maintain it. This will also relax some of the operational challenges at the airportshttps://t.co/HGUX7XW1kB
— Alexis von Hoensbroech (@AHoensbroech) May 31, 2022
Von Hoensbroech’s call for the end of Trudeau’s COVID jab mandate is quite significant, as he is the first CEO of any Canadian airline to publicly call for them to end.
Indeed, in a tweet on Monday, Von Hoensbroech posted a photo of himself flying maskless on a European flight.
“Travelling in #Europe today: No masks required on airplanes,” he tweeted.
Travelling in #Europe today: No masks required on airplanes ✈️😅 pic.twitter.com/VBjqSgqrIj
— Alexis von Hoensbroech (@AHoensbroech) May 31, 2022
On May 16, the same day the European Union dropped its mask mandate for air travel, Von Hoensbroech tweeted, “Time to rethink for #Canada as well after mandatory masking is disappearing in most other areas of life.”
Time to rethink for #Canada as well after mandatory masking is disappearing in most other areas of life…https://t.co/2i0rmIyEBr
— Alexis von Hoensbroech (@AHoensbroech) May 16, 2022
Von Hoensbroech became the CEO of Calgary-based WestJet on February 25, 2022. Before his role with WestJet, he served as CEO of Austrian Airlines.
Yesterday the Trudeau government said it would extend its border restrictions along with travel COVID jab mandates until “at least” June 30.
This announcement came just a day after the Trudeau Liberal government, with the help of the NDP, voted against a motion from Conservative Party of Canada’s MP Melissa Lantsman calling for the return of pre-pandemic rules and service levels for travel. The motion failed to pass; there were 201 votes against it and only 112 for.
Recently, Canadian Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra said that the government will not “adjust” the travel vaccine mandate until “we feel it’s right.”
It should be noted that on May 6, Von Hoensbroech met with Alghabra to talk about “operational challenges at the airports as passenger numbers are rebuilding towards pre-pandemic levels.”
Great talking with @OmarAlghabra on #aviation recovery and the particular operational challenges at the airports as #passenger numbers are rebuilding towards pre-pandemic levels (finally😅). Thanks for your support💪👍 https://t.co/oRs8ZwdQki
— Alexis von Hoensbroech (@AHoensbroech) May 5, 2022
Last year, Trudeau put in place a mandate that in effect bans those who have chosen not to get the COVID vaccines to travel ban by air, rail, or sea. The travel vaccine mandate bans Canadians from flying within Canada as well as out of the country. Very few exceptions are given.
Canadians who are vaccine free can fly home from abroad; however, they must provide a negative test and quarantine for 14 days upon their return.
Foreign nationals who are not jabbed are usually barred from entry into Canada, but Trudeau has made an exception for Ukrainian refugees.
Trudeau has also created a COVID jab mandate for all federal workers, as well as those who work in federally regulated industries, which includes the aviation industry.
Many federal government workers lost their jobs last year because they chose not to get the experimental COVID jabs.
Both WestJet and Air Canada last fall mandated that all their employees be jabbed. This resulted in hundreds losing their jobs.
Some pilots who lost their job last year recounted their stories to LifeSiteNews and explained that they began to fight back through the creation of the group “Free to Fly.”
Trudeau’s vaccine mandate is being challenged in court by People’s Party of Canada leader and former MP Maxime Bernier.
Canada’s official opposition and other aviation groups also call for the end to COVID travel jab mandates
About two weeks ago, CPC MPs Lantsman and Michelle Ferreri demanded on behalf of their party that Trudeau end his “vindictive” COVID jab travel mandates, saying recent testimony proves it is causing nothing but chaos at airports.
Pro-life CPC MP and leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis has also called for an end to Trudeau’s travel COVID jab mandate.
People traveling through Canada’s airports in recent weeks have been faced with massive delays, which has caused some airline industry groups to speak out.
Last week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the Canadian government should end at once all COVID travel restrictions, including vaccine mandates.
Earlier this month, the Canadian Airport Council called out the Trudeau government’s COVID mandates for calling travel chaos.
Just recently, the heads of Canada’s largest airport at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) in a statement sounded the alarm over airport bottlenecks and called for the Trudeau Liberals to ease COVID rules.
The GTAA said that the government should “streamline or eliminate inbound legacy public health requirements at Canada’s airports, and in doing help to alleviate bottlenecks for international arriving passengers.”
The GTAA also said that random COVID testing upon arrival needs should be eliminated.
According to the petition, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization itself “found no information regarding the transmission of COVID-19 on airplanes.”
Indeed, an International Air Transport Association study from 2020 found that out of the approximately 1.2 billion passengers who traveled worldwide, there were only 44 cases of COVID-19 as attributed to in flight-related transmission.
Even a Transport Canada document from November 4, 2020, states that the ¨likelihood of passenger to-passenger transmission aboard aircraft appears to be low,” according to the petition.
All the COVID jabs approved for use in Canada are still experimental, with clinical trials not being completed until 2023.
The COVID jab trials have never produced evidence that vaccines stop infection or transmission. They do not even claim to reduce hospitalization, but the measurement of success is its alleged ability to prevent severe symptoms of COVID-19.